Stereotypes

It saddens me how quickly I have come to accept stereotypes in the country as fact.  Since stepping foot off the plane in Namibia, I have been constantly told that many of the men in the country are players.  They will try to sleep with you.  They have many girlfriends, and cheat on the ones they do have.  This was told to me constantly.  I admit, they did it for my safety.  They wanted all of us female volunteers to be prepared for the onslaught of attention we would receive from the men.

 

We would get approached on the streets.  Strangers would come up and ask to marry us.  Introduce us to their friends as their girlfriends or wives.  It was easy to believe the stereotypes;  it happened so often to me and my friends.  I learned early on to never go out at night without a male friend around.  It just wasn’t safe.  My host mom even thought it was funny when  a strange man started being very forward with me.  He told me that his car was across the street and he had a house in town.  I didn’t know him.

 

So, after months of hearing these stereotypes, and even worse, seeing them and experiencing them with my own eyes, I started to believe that all men were pigs.  I was at a wedding, which was an affair that lasted all weekend.  I had met this amazing family: a girl my age, her longtime boyfriend, son, father, and mother.  I had spent the weekend with them, and had been thrilled and awed to hear about how the parents had been together for almost twenty years and were planning a giant anniversary party around Christmas.  It made me happy to see an honest man willing to love one woman.

 

I had exchanged numbers with the daughter, excited to make a local friend.  The next night I received a text from the father, asking if we could get to know each other better.  My happiness was shattered.  This man wasn’t what I had hoped he had been.  He was just like all the rest.

 

So, I started to believe that every man I saw was a cheater willing to sleep with anyone.  That they left their wives and children to move to ‘greener pastures’.  Until I was hiking back to my home one afternoon.  I was sitting in the back of a baki (truck), when this family joined me.  It was a father, mother, and their two young children.  They all looked nice, so it seemed they had spent the afternoon in town.  The father sat down, and his children climbed in his lap to take a nap.  For the next hour, he was making sure the sun wasn’t on them and that they were comfortable.  He was so concerned about them.  He would stroke his daughters hair absentmindedly as well. 

 

I realized then that I had given in to the stereotypes of the country.  I had believed upon first sight that this man was like the rest.  But spending an hour with him, watching him interact with his children made me realize that not all men were like I had been told.  Not all of them were like I had seen.  It made me both ashamed of myself and ecstatic that there were exceptions to the stereotype.

 

I can’t wait to see what other horrible stereotypes are false as well!

Letters for the Library

After spending so much time getting the library in working order, I came to the realization that getting donations is going to be a bit more difficult than I had hoped.  We have the books ready to go, but the funding to send it over is being elusive.  People are more than happy to help when they get some sort of recognition, like a tax break, but without that they are much more wary about giving their hard-earned money.  I cannot blame them. 

 

I had written a letter, which I gave to my mother to forward on to potential donors.  In this letter I wrote about how the books we have at this school are ridiculously old, and above the reading level of the learners.  All of the good books have already been read by them, and they either don’t read or read the same book over and over.  I included pictures showing the potential of our fantastic library space, and how sad it is that the shelves are all but empty.

 

One of our teachers has been gone for the last week and a half, and I have taken advantage of his now teacher-less class to practice various teaching methods and lessons.  It occurred to me that many of these learners have no motivation to do any work.  There are about 8 different assignments which are graded, and it is those which constitute their overall grade for the class.  Everything else is done purely as practice.  To make their assignment more real, along with helping out the school, I informed the kids that I was working on getting more books for the library.  I told them that I had written a letter, but it would be much better if their wrote to the potential donors.  They were very excited.

 

English, especially writing it, is especially difficult for these kids.  Yes, they do write, but their grammar, punctuation, spelling, and creative thinking are lacking tremendously.  They have been brought up in a learning environment where no one speaks English natively.  Their home language is the language of instruction until Grade 5, at which point they are expected to be able to learn in a foreign language.  Unfortunately many of their teachers are not qualified to teach English, and often feel uncomfortable., Which often results in their returning to their home tongue.

 

So, by the time they get to secondary school, they have the ability level of someone much younger than they are.  A solution that the kids, the teachers, the ministry, and everyone in any education field agrees to is that if the kids develop a culture of reading, they will be able to unintentionally absorb grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  They will be able to see different writing styles, genres, and, I hope, a passion for reading and writing.

 

So, I informed the kids that they would all be writing a letter explaining why they need good books to read.  I left it open for their ideas and creativity, and told them that the top 10 letters would be typed up and e-mailed to America.  I have never seen such devotion to their work.  I made sure to stress that I would not be looking at grammar, or anything but the message they put.  Many came up with good, but obvious answers.  It will help our spelling and grammar.  But some kids were very surprising.  I was unable to reduce the list to 10, so with the potential winners I went to my fellow teachers and asked them to help me choose learners who are struggling behaviorally and academically, but could use some success.

 

I have to say, it worked.  So far we have only spent one afternoon painstakingly typing one letter, one word at a time.  But boy do they work!  Their spelling, and grammar, and punctuation are atrocious!  But isn’t that the point?  These are children aged 15 to 20!  Supposedly they have been learning and speaking English since they were 6.  But their writing still resembles that of an American 8 year old!  I know that their message will come through much better than mine, because really, the books aren’t for me.  They are for these unfortunate kids who live an hour and a half drive from the nearest shop, with absolutely no way to get reading material.  If they do not improve their English, they will be the ones who can’t find jobs, not me. 

 

As an avid reader myself, I would be perfectly happy reading the books in the library.  Even the ones written in the 1920’s.  But I am a proficient reader.  It would make sense to me.  To these kids, it's daunting and gibberish.  So, here I am, hoping that there are people in the world who are more interested in helping children succeed in the world than to get a tax write-off.

 

Here is one of the kid’s letters.  He has spent hours trying to type it.  I dare you to read it and not feel your heart strings pull.

 

Dear madam,

First of all I want to say good after noon or morning at the library.

I have to tell you the problems about the library book   to read and understanding what is going in the book so that I can take and read those thing that is inside the book please. 

I have to talk about myself how I can take this book to read them in the library because the teacher they not allow us to go and read the book in the library so that we can read good story

At the school also we need good book to read easily for myself only  because  me I like to read story book and magazine also about the HIV and AIDS to know what  we going allow  to do when we can doing sex  you cannot get HIV and AID in the school or on my w ay  if I thing about the school book here . I thing I am in the school where I am teaching every day until school out .I like to pray to god so I can be good reading in the school except in the class only because I like  to try  my spelling word to write  again  in the same so that I

Can writ easily and I can become reading learner in the class .so that I  want to tell you about the book that is here in the library now the teacher or secratery now give us to read it is ok but just bring us at the library or give us book to read that was my good news for all teacher and secretary and myself.

 

Sincerely

With many thanks

Theodor

 

My poor library!  No wonder the kids don't read. They can't!

 

Knock, Knock, Nobody's Home

Well, I think I updated the blog a few days too early.  My boring old life here in the village isn’t so boring anymore!

 

This morning my house got broken into and all my money and some electronics were stolen.  Yay for me!  The sad part is that I didn’t take the broken lock as a sign of a burglary until hours later. 

 

Upon entering my house during break time I noticed that some of my things had been moved on my trunk.  Freaked out, I checked and saw that all of my expensive things were still here.  So, of course that meant I was crazy and nothing was stolen.  Hours later I come home from a computer class to hear that one of my neighbors saw one of the learners leave the yard.  So, upon closer inspection of my things, I noticed that all of my money (both Namibian and American) was gone, as well as my iPod, speakers, and a memory stick.

 

As you do when you are robbed, we called the police, and I was able to spend the next few hours freaking out about the security of my home as well as my missing things.  The door to the house wouldn’t lock, and it was getting late.  I could honestly care less about the money.  Yes it was a lot of money, but I have enough to survive.  But now I didn’t feel safe in my own home.

 

Thankfully the learner who my neighbor saw wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.  He had only gone a few kilometers away in the hours it had been since he had broken in and we had reported it.  The police quickly caught him, and in an act of even greater stupidity he had (almost) all of my things on his person.

 

Que scene where I spent the next few hours of filling out a statement with the police, and trying to fix the door.  Door problem solved temporarily and ridiculously long statement finished.  Unfortunately I will probably have to court to give my statement and testify against the kid.

 

The saddest part is that this was a learner at my school.  He was a repeater in Grade 10, and had finished his exams 2 days prior.  He left to go home, like all of the other Grade 10s, but decided to stay a few extra days for some ‘extra-curricular activities’.  It makes me so sad that kids are doing these things, especially to their own teachers.  It really shows how few opportunities these kids think they have in life.

 

If there’s one good thing that came out of this, is that the Peace Corps understands the limitations of my village and what we can fix so that this does not happen again.  I am looking forward to seeing the improvements and now I am extra positive that getting a dog is a good idea.  If he is sitting at my door, people are much less likely to try to break in.  I was tempted to have a moat built around the house, and fill it with hippos.  But, I’m too lazy to dig that trench and don’t think it’d be a good detention for the kids.  Also, the hippos would probably not get along very well with the dog.  Too bad. 

 

It seems that as soon as I say life is boring here, something comes along to spice up my life a bit.  I hope that next time instead of someone robbing me, it’s something really cool like winning the lottery or seeing all my kids get A’s on their essays.  One can wish!

My Life So Far

Well,

 

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything on here, and I wanted to update you on what’s been going on in my life. 

 

Not much.  I’ve spent the last month in my village, and I am slowly trying to figure everything out and get to know everyone.  Despite being such a small community, it’s been a bit difficult to actually get close to anyone.  Yes, we are all on amicable terms, but it seems that as soon as the school day is over, everyone retreats to their own homes and we see each other again the next school day.  This itself is not a bad thing, but it does make getting close relationships all the harder.

 

I have been able to work more at the school, which is extremely nice.  As my mom has always told me, ‘Keep the secretary on your good side and things will always be easier.’  I’ve taken this to heart, even though it’s not a task by any means.  My secretary is a fabulously lovely woman!  She is very intelligent and incredibly kind.  She is always there to make jokes, chat, and help me whenever I need.  I have also been slowly been learning more about my colleagues, as well as letting them know about me.

 

This is the real point of what we call ‘Phase 2’ of Peace Corps.  This is the 2 months before the new school year, where I have the opportunity to integrate without the stresses of being a full time teacher.  I’ve been lucky to be able to practice my teaching.  I’ve applied my current teaching methodologies to Namibia in hopes that it applies here, and so far so good!  I was very worried that everything I learned about teaching wouldn’t be applicable here, but thankfully it is.  It’s been nice to be able to see if my tricks and skills with the little ones would apply to secondary students and they do. 

 

These kids are both very young and very old at the same time.  They love stickers and positive reinforcement to an extent that American teenagers would scoff at.  It’s surprising that things I’ve done with my Kindergarteners work with 18 year olds!  At the same time, though, these kids are having sex with each other, getting pregnant and who knows what else, and going to the next village to get drunk on weekends.  They think it’s fun to turn the power to the teachers’ housing out at night, and generally do stupid obnoxious things.

 

Thankfully those are only the 5%.  And generally the Grade 10s.  I spoke with my principal about what I will be teaching next year, and we have tentatively agreed that I will do all of Grade 8 and 9 English, as well as BIS  (basic information science).  BIS generally means how to use books properly as well as use research tools such as dictionaries, indexes, and the internet.  We don’t have the internet at the moment, but I’ve made it my goal to get it at the school before I leave. 

 

So, weekdays are usually pretty fulfilling here, but weekends are different altogether.  When there is no school, the days can drag on forever and there isn’t much to do.  I need to start making more of an effort to establish relationships with the teachers so that we can get together on these boring days.  Thankfully everything takes longer to do, such as laundry.  I must do it all by hand, so every Saturday I at least have something to do for an hour or two.

 

I’ve also taken up running again, which is a great stress and boredom reliever.  I have no idea how far I go, but I try to increase my time every day.  It’s been really nice to have a goal (be able to go an hour easy for now, and a half marathon in a year).  Some of the kids and spouses have noticed what I am doing, and after getting over the shock of the ‘that crazy running white chick’ have either joined me or asked if they can.  The more the merrier I say!

 

I know that once I get my own class, I’ll have plenty to do.  I’m already trying to establish weekend classes for the community in various computer skills, from basic to editing and creating electronic grading.  That’ll both keep me busy and help improve the community.  I really want to have at least one teacher helping me though.  If I do everything myself, the project won’t be sustainable once I leave.  It’s so easy to just say I’ll do it, but that’s really not the reason I’m here.  I want the community to be able to help itself. 

 

Oh, in new news, I’ve officially decided to get a dog.  I’ve been debating it for the last few months, considering I live in such a remote place and dogs are horribly mistreated.  When I leave for my vacations (which I need to do considering there’s really no one here for a month), what would happen to the dog?  I wouldn’t be able to take it with me for such a long time, and I couldn’t leave it by itself.  So, after talking to a community member that I trust, he said that he would love to watch the dog for me.  I don’t think he knows how to do that to my standards, but I trust that if I showed him what to do, he’d be able to make sure it was looked after.

 

I’ll be getting him or her from the SPCA in Windhoek on my way back to site after Christmas.  It’ll be a great gift to myself, and will help me not be so bored and lonely on weekends.  I’ve had many offers of puppies from people who know I want a dog, but I think getting an adult dog is a smarter idea.  Also, I want to make sure it has all the shots and is fixed.  Preparing for it is going to be fun as well.  I’m going to make a dog house out of old desk frames and tarp material, and any time I go to town I’ll pick up a little bit that I need, like food and a leash and other stuff.  Very exciting.  I’ll post a picture when I get him or her!

 

Other than that, not much has happened.  Just practicing my teaching and preparing for next year, which is difficult with the lack of resources.  A fact which may help me to get the internet.  It’d be so much easier to create effective lessons with resources found on the internet.  We’ll see how that goes!

 

 

Happy Aniversary!

The staff of my school was invited to the 70’s anniversary of one of the local primary schools.  A week before the event, my principal asked if I would like to attend.  Of course my response was a resounding “Absolutely!”  Now, I said this not because I wanted to get out of my village (I’ve only been here for a week, not even close to long enough to get cabin fever), but because I want to get as much cultural emersion as possible.

 

So, two days before the event, my principal informed the staff that she was going to be gone all weekend to attend a wedding of a family member.  Huh.  Luckily the teacher who I live with was also interested in going.  Saturday morning arrived and we crammed into the school baki (truck) and made our way the 25 km to the primary school. 

 

The event, which started at 9am, began around 11:30.  There were representatives from most of the local schools, as well as past learners from the school itself.  We were treated to many forms of entertainment, ranging from local youth performing oviritje (Herero music) accompanied by music, learners dancing different traditional dances, as well as dancing from the random Herero women who just got the urge while the music was playing.

 

 

 

The focus of the event was not only on the achievement of teaching youth for 70 years, but it was also a fundraiser to build a hostel (dorm) for the learners.  While this school is not quite as far away from civilization as mine, it still is quite far (over 60 km from the nearest town).  This prevents many learners from being able to make the commute.  To help their numbers grow, the faculty decided to turn two of their classrooms into unofficial hostels.  The problem with this is that not only do the children need to cram together, but the bathrooms are very far away.  At night they must use a bucket because it is dangerous to be out after dark (snakes and scorpions, and, they range from 6 to 13).

 

I was very impressed to see how the school decided to host a fundraising event to raise the money for their hostel.  All too often organizations become reliant of foreign aide to solve all their problems.  These organizations have legitimate concerns, such as needing a hostel, or fixing the roof, or providing sports equipment/fields for the kids.  But instead of trying to get the money in country, they put their hand out and wait for the money to come in.  Fortunately I have not seen any of that here.  This school worked very hard to get donations, from other schools, the ministry, various organizations, and the local community.  They planned the event, had a VIP dinner (which I was invited to.  Delicious food!), a raffle for a sheep (which I should have bought a ticket for), and they sold t-shirts (which I did buy!). 

 

It is effort like this which makes me think that I will be able to make a difference.  I am not just in this country to teach English.  I am here to be a catalyst for change.  These schools need and want help.  They just don’t know how to get it.  If I can be there, listening to their needs and concerns, I can plant the seed for them to be able to solve their own problems.  They need to be reliant on themselves so that they can pull themselves out of the hole they are in.  Doing this will also allow them to have pride and feel successful.  My goal is that when I leave, I will have no credit for any of those seeds I planted.  I want them to say, “Wow, I am so glad Mr. Muhau started that boy’s club” or “Ms. Murangi sure worked hard to make the computer lab run smoothly”.

 

Ode the the Internet

Ode to the Internet

 

Woa is me, the one who must wake up in the middle of the night to use the internet.

Why must you be affordable between the hours of shut eye and rooster’s crow?
The obscene beeping in my ear does not help your cause, but what can a poor girl do?

 

So I wake, and I walk, and I plug in my communication to the world beyond the cows.
My eyes have yet to focus, yet I am already knee deep in e-mails.
As I come to my favorite part, I hold in my groan in consideration of my neighbors.

 

Why are you so slow, Internet?!
Page Cannot Be Displayed is not something I want to see so early.
All I want is to see the world through 11 inch eyes.

 

But you continue to lumber, just as if you were the cattle outside my house.
You let me see, but keep those pages I want just out of reach
Page Cannot Be Displayed

 

I have done so much in my short life here
And all I want to do is share it with the world
But what do I see? 

 

Error.
Page Cannot Be Displayed
And that infernal, evil rotating circle

 

Round and round with nowhere to go
It sits on my screen, letting me know that patience is not my greatest asset
Well I’m sorry, Internet, but I only get one hour of your time!

 

But I must think logically, which is hard for a sleep-addled mind.
I live so far from civilization
No ATMs, or grocery stores, or coffee shops

 

No paved roads, or cars, or anything of the like.
No, what I have are cows, and chickens, and screaming children.
Donkeys and horses, and slow internet.

 

I must think logically, or else
So be content with waiting, for patience is a virtue.
While I cannot upload a photo, I do have thousands of words.

 

Words which can paint pictures much more brilliant than that of my point and shoot.
Words which leap from my brain to the page any time of my choosing
Not just the middle of no time

 

So I will be content, and happy,
And write my pictures, until…
Page Cannot Be Displayed.

It's official!

Well, it’s official. 

 As of around 10am yesterday morning I am now a card carrying Peace Corps Volunteer!  I spent the morning packing all the little things, and saying goodbye to my new family.  We then all made our way over to the training center, and gave our oath the both America and Namibia.  Apparently as federal employees we had to give that awesome ‘foreign and domestic’ oath you always hear on TV.  It was kind of cool. 

 There were a whole bunch of speeches, both by the embassy, the Ministry, and selected trainees (pardon me, volunteers).  It was a really nice event.

 

My Namibian family at my goodbye party the night before.  The woman in pink is my mother, Alma.

 

Looking snazzy before becoming official volunteers!

 

Not long after, I hopped on a combie (Namlish for van) with all my things, and made my way to my new village.  It’s crazy!  No more training every day.  No more seeing the wonderful faces of my new friends every day.  No more Americans.  Just me in my new (and awesome) house, surrounded by teachers and learners, ready to take the world on.  Or at least start observing the teachers/learners and tutoring for the next few months.

 

I’m so glad that my principal is amazing!  We had the opportunity to sit and talk yesterday, and she seems really open to letting me get my feet wet before I start teaching my own class.  At first, while we were talking about the next 10 weeks of my life, she said that I would be taking over 2 periods every day.  I’d be expected to have lesson plans and be on my own teaching.  You should have seen my face!    She obviously did, because she started laughing and told me she was joking!

 

Now,  for the next 2 and a half months, I am going to learn as much as I can about my new community, while hopefully gaining more experience in my Otjiherero and, if I’m ambitious enough, some Afrikaans.  I’ll be seeing how my learners learn, and trying to figure out the best way to teach them.  I’ll also start working on the computers, as well as showing some of the teachers how to be more efficient with their marking. 

 

They say that Phase 2 (which is the next 10 weeks) is the slowest of my service. I hope to prevent as much boredom as I can.  Which is why I’m up at 4 in the morning, utilizing the free internet time, to upload my blogs and download as much as I can!